Ross Stewart was immensely proud of his Cambridge players after a spirited display against National League One leaders Hartpury College ended in a 54-32 defeat.

Hartpury have been by far the most dominant team in National League One this season but they did not have it all their own way by any means at Volac Park.

The home side took the lead in the opening exchanges and were good value for it until the 30th minute when the visitorsfinally edged in front.

And director of rugby Stewart believes the fright that Cambridge put on Hartpury may give other teams more confidence when they go up against the table-toppers.

He said: “I learned that we can step up and that the boys should not be afraid.

“Probably a lot of teams don’t have a go at Hartpury. They’re living off a bit of hype and teams go into their shell.

“Hopefully we’ve proved to the rest of the league that you can play rugby against them.

“Too many teams are being a bit negative.”

The positive approach that Cambridge adopted was evident from the moment the match kicked off.

The game was just four minutes old when Dan Lewis scored under the posts after a clever kick through from Jack Green, and Green himself added the extras to give the hosts the perfect start.

Even after Hartpury replied with a try of their own from outstanding fly-half Matt Protheroe, the missed conversion meant Cambridge held on to their lead.

They continued to play like a side in control of the game, and two penalties converted by Green extended that advantage further.

Hartpury were rattled, and they eventually got a grip on the game, with Protheroe at the heart of most of their good attacking play.

But for all of Hartpury’s speed and sharpness, it was Cambridge’s mistakes that gave them good field position.

Stewart accepted that against opposition of Hartpury’s calibre mistakes will get punished, but still felt his team could have defended better.

He continued: “You play these top four teams and the mistakes you make, and how you react to that, what happens afterwards is the difference between them and the rest of us in the league.

“We were outstanding for 10 minutes, managed the game, got on the scoreboard and put them under massive amounts of pressure.

“We made an error and they punished us very well.

“We can attack but what we’ve got to get better at is defending. While we were better, we’ve still conceded 50-odd points.

“The boys have got to work now on this defence. It does not come particularly naturally to them as they like to attack.

“But if we can get our defence right and get turnover ball, it’s the best ball to attack off.”

Even when Hartpury threatened to run away with the game in the second half, Cambridge never gave up, with tries from Tom Nutley and Jake McCloud – both converted by Green – keeping Hartpury on their toes.

And although Hartpury did eventually put the game beyond Cambridge, the hosts battled on, with Tom Trotter scoring a well-deserved bonus-point try in the 80th minute.

“We’re in a decent place,” added Stewart.

“We wanted to get something from the game, which we did with that point. We’re disappointed we didn’t get more but not arrogant enough to think we should have had more.”